The Adventures of River Bernair and Friends
by Christmas Spirit of the Brook
Summary: Young River Bernair is a normal twelve year old girl who lives in the suburbs of New Jersey. But when she discovers a secret about her and her motley crew of friends, will she accept it or destroy it? Follow River on her quest to find who she truly is and in the process, find out a scandal that her own mother committed. WARNING: First chapter written way before Blood of Olympus.
1. Chapter 1: I Nearly Turn Into Roadkill

**A/N: Hello, beautiful children! Are you ready for a new fanfiction? I bet you are. Now, to explain some things, I wrote this WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY before Blood of Olympus came out. So, if you're thinking, "OMG, that happened in Blood of Olympus. Blah, blah, blah", please don't say what you're thinking because that would not be appreciated. But anyways, on to the fanfic of justice! This first chapter was quite long and I have no idea why. Have fun reading it all! Please review.**

**Chapter 1**

If I knew that I was going to be almost turned into roadkill by a fluffy cat then stepped on accidentally by someone that was immortal, I would not have gone on the school field trip to the zoo. Yeah, I know, zoos are kiddie trips that kindergartners go to, but I had no choice. My mom just slapped the money in my hand without even listening to where we were going.

She hadn't even volunteered to chaperone on the trip! Usually, my mom was all about field trips and was like, "Oh dear, I know I shouldn't let you go alone-"even though I was 13 and the rest of the class was going with me-"so I'm going to chaperone for this!" She's one of those smothery moms that won't let you go anywhere without them by your side.

I don't know why she's so protective, but I guessed that just some moms were like that. This was completely unlike her, not asking about what happened at school today, although I wouldn't exactly like to tell her.

You see, sometimes I just do things impulsively, such as throwing a basketball at the coach's head in PE and giving him a concussion. That was just something minor I did in the third grade. One time, I persuaded my mom I could drive and backed up the van into a tree. Yeah, not a good report to recall when you're talking to someone on the phone. "Oh, yes, my thirteen-year old just climbed into our van and a branch broke all of the windows. Do you have any insurance policies for that?"

I've done so many other little things that they're hard to count. But each time, I get in giant trouble and I don't even remember the "whys" of the situation and other times, memories blur together until suddenly, I'm sitting in a chair in front of the principal's desk and being questioned by every teacher in the whole school. Guess it's just a part of being dyslexic.

This time was no different. We were in the middle of math class and I was fiddling with my pencil about some weirdo strategies. Before I knew it, I had my finger balanced carefully on the pencil and I flicked it onto Mrs. Callan's back. Everyone is afraid of Mrs. Callan. She gives you the worst punishments, but surprisingly she didn't get mad at me. I guess she just immediately assumed that Anthony had done it.

Anthony was this jokester who was in nearly all my classes. He didn't actually pay much attention to class, but never complained about homework. I guess he made one of the nerds do it. One of them being: Veronica. Veronica was my best friend but yet a nerd. The other kids didn't know she knew so much, so they let her around.

I'm not exactly the most popular kid around, yet I do sit near the popular lunch table with all the other in-the-middle kids and with Veronica. Apparently, I wasn't classified as nerdy so I sat near the popular kids.

It's pretty weird how middle school works. You just never know what's going to happen. Hah, middle school is a piece of cake compared to the problems I have now. That afternoon, I set my bag down on my bed and sighed. It just happened to be a Friday and I counted Friday as my favorite day of the week. I got to spend time with my mom over the weekend and I got to relax (I rarely got to relax now because of all the homework piling up on weekdays).

I lay down on my bed and looked up to the ceiling. A long time ago, Mom had painted it navy blue with turquoise waves spiraling across it. In the corner nearest the start of the wall was the bare-chested Greek god, Poseidon holding a blue green trident. Mom has this strange obsession with Greek gods and she said that it just happened to start when I was born. I don't know what the heck would cause her to go crazy about some fake fairy tale. But then again, moms are always strange.

I got up off the bed and strode into the kitchen, looking for a bag of chips I had hidden under the counter. When I knelt down, I heard Mom's voice. She apparently was on the phone, so I stayed quiet. But when I got the chips from under the counter, I snuck into the office where she was standing and listened to her conversation.

She was talking to someone named Chiron, apparently and she didn't seem to babble on and on and on like she usually did on the phone. It was just the occasional "Yes," and "Uh, huh," and one time, she nodded even though the Chiron dude couldn't see her.

At one point, Mom's face went completely gray and her mouth dropped open in horror. "Already?" she whispered weakly. "But… River's too young, she…." Her voice faded away as if Chiron had started talking again.

Mom regained her composure and nodded. "Yes, Chiron," she said, once again with her strong normal phone-talking voice. "I'm sure she will." She hung up and walked out of the office.

I was in as much shock as Mom had been in. Why was Mom talking to a complete, total stranger about me? What was I not ready for, according to Mom? Who was Chiron?

I walked, dazed out of the office and for some reason, I felt myself walking over to the door that led outside of our house. Our house was pretty nice, I guess. It wasn't in the middle of nowhere, yet it wasn't in the middle of New York City. In "nerd talk", as the popular kids would classify it, we live in a suburb.

I grabbed my bike and slowly began to pedal out of the driveway. Suddenly, it hit me. I should have told Mom. She would have been worrying about me and…. Then, I remembered Mom's current state today and how she had barely said anything.

I quickly made a mental decision. I would go out on a bike ride around the neighborhood then come back and tell Mom about it. I nodded then sped up on my bike. I felt the smooth pumping of the pedals under my feet and nothing else. I didn't take the time to wave at anyone. All I did was think about how a normal Friday had turned into a weird, puzzling day.

When I finally got home, the sun was setting and the sky was darkening. I left my bike pushed up against the garage wall. The door swung open just as I was beginning to walk towards it. Mom hurried out, looking rushed and her smartphone pressed up against her ear.

I decided it was one of Mom's unimportant calls so I began to speak. "So, Mom-"I didn't get any farther than that because she held up her hand to silence me and scrambled into her Honda Civic.

She waved goodbye through the car window then backed out of the garage. I was speechless, standing there in the rays of sunlight just peeking over the horizon.

I finally turned around and raced into the house. The TV was left on, surprisingly and the lights in the kitchen were still glowing. I glanced at the refrigerator and saw a small sticky note left on it. I walked toward the door and plucked the note off of it. It read, in Mom's usual hurried handwriting: _Dinner is frozen pot pie. Make sure you read the directions. I'll be home late. –Mom_

I opened up the freezer and pulled out the pot pie. I didn't do much, just followed the directions and waited for the pot pie to heat in the microwave. I leaned back against the counter and before I knew it, I was studying the walls intensely.

I noticed a pattern in the creamish-orange paint: cloud, cloud, lightning bolt, cloud, cloud, and a lightning bolt. It continued on and on and on. It must have been something related to the Greek gods or something because it was really strange.

Suddenly, the alarm on the microwave started beeping and I walked over to the door, swinging it open. I took out the pot pie and sat down at the empty dinner table. We barely used it anymore except for special occasions. It was just something I decided to do as if to pay respects to someone at a funeral. I, being a younger kid didn't have to pay respects, but out of deliberate intentions I sometimes did try to be like the adults and pay respects. I guess it's like one of my impulsive decisions but with less of a trouble-making effect.

I glanced at the clock. It was 11:00 PM. _Geez, _I thought. _Mom must be coming home __**really **__late! _Since it was so late, I finished up my pot pie and put the bowl in the sink.

I walked toward my room and closed the door. I plopped on my bed, exhausted from the troubling events that had happened today. I read for a while then put down my book and turned out the lights. I yawned, closed my eyes, and began to drift off.

*o0o0o0o0o*

Diving under the sea being chased by a crazy talking leopard is not at the top of the list of My Best Dreams. I woke up in complete darkness and felt the rocking of a ship under my feet. The waves slapped at the hull. Then I noticed two glowing yellow eyes in the darkness. A soft, velvety purr boomed through the lower deck of the ship. Then the purr switched to a rusty growl that sounded like a leopard's. I later found out that it literally was a leopard. I reached out my hand to find where I was and felt myself touching a big, spotted wildcat's nose.

I screamed and jumped back, only to feel the board under my foot crack loudly and I took an unexpected swim. The weird thing was that I could breathe fine underwater and so could the leopard. I sank down through the depths until I reached the bottom. Looking up, I could see the leopard's eyes shining like headlights installed with rubies. _"River Bernair," _the leopard growled without opening its mouth. _"Your time has run out. You will be destroyed and trampled into dust underfoot."_

I shrugged. Not the most welcoming greeting of all time, but I've been through worse. "Unfortunately, I can't be trampled into dust soon. I've got a doctor's appointment next Thursday. Please move your date to someday else. Thank you!" The leopard roared in frustration and its spotted paw lunged out at me. Right then, the dream began to flicker and the leopard began saying weird things like, "I am a pretty, little kitty! Feed me chicken sandwiches!"

I woke up, sweating. Sunlight streamed in through the shutters covering the window and my alarm clock read 11:00 AM. I stood up, stretched, and walked out into the kitchen. The smell of rich coffee and frying bacon filled the air. Mom greeted me with a bright smile and served me breakfast on the couch. I was still shocked from my dream and all that had happened last night. Apparently, Mom had forgotten her phone call yesterday and her solitary state.

The weekend went by quickly, uninterrupted by crazy dreams or weird guys calling Mom and making her talk about me. Soon, it was Monday and time for the field trip. I got my stuff ready for the bus ride to the zoo and kissed Mom on the cheek. She said goodbye and closed the door.

I smiled and hopped in through the bus doors, sitting with my best friend other than Veronica, Dan. We had held a longtime grudge in third grade, but that was the past and now we were best friends. For a while, I just read then I started talking to some popular kid sitting in the seats in front of us. For most of the trip, everything was fine. Then about halfway into the ride, things started getting weird. I kept on seeing golden flashes of fur running alongside the bus.

I peered through the window and asked Dan if he saw anything, but he was talking to another kid and I didn't want to be rude. Then again, I saw the golden pelt bright against the road. Now, I saw pure white teeth and heard the snapping of massive jaws. I realized that what I thought was the bus's engine humming was the pounding of…..paws.

Then out of the blue, glass shattered in the next seat over and through the window climbed a furry golden body with a tufted tail. Its eyes gleamed in human-like hatred. It was a lion with the fluffiest bulletproof behind of all time.

Immediately, the lion lunged at me. I scuffled through my pockets and found a pink Calorie Free packet of sugar. _Seriously?!_ I just stared at the packet then threw it away like it was useless. I figured out later that the brave little sugar packet had saved my life. The lion was about to unleash its huge claws on me and end my life when the sugar which was still going toward the ground shot into its wide open jaws. It choked and fell to the ground, trying to find air. It let out a strangled roar then the whole bus tipped over.

Kids started screaming (as if they hadn't noticed the lion about to murder me) and teachers hurried around, falling and giving me some unwanted views from behind. Dan grabbed a pencil from his pocket and threw it at the lion. You're probably wondering how a pencil could do anything, but halfway through its fall, the pencil lengthened and sharpened itself until it was a pocketknife with a leather grip. You will realize that a normal object like that is necessary equipment for kids like me.

The bus was now completely upside down and I swear I saw a golden glint of metal at the edge of a broken window. Then, a loud creak of metal echoed through the shrieks of fear and a chariot fell through the ceiling. I'm not kidding, a literal Greek-style chariot. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to observe any longer because I felt a stinging pain in my backside and I dropped to the ground. My eyelids felt heavy all of a sudden and I blacked out.

When I regained consciousness, I felt a hard heel digging into my spine. "Ow," I mumbled. "Oh, didn't see you there, kid," a gruff female voice exclaimed and the foot left her back. "Welcome aboard the Camp Half Blood train! And just to let you know, we totally saved your butts from the Nemean Lion."

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	2. Chapter 2: I Crash From A Flying Chariot

**A/N: Welcome back, PJO fans to River Bernair's many adventures after a long pause of hiatus due to other stories! Thank you, Heartofglass99 for the support. I will most certainly continue writing. REVIEW BUNNY! Keep watch for scandals and amazingness. Keep on reading, butter people! The only GIGANTIC CHANGE I have made is that River actually has been living with her aunt, not her mother. I have changed the idea of the fanfic completely. Just to clarify because I made some major plot changes including the entire character of River, her origins, and stuff. We'll figure out who her father or mother is in this chapter! But who will be revealed?**

I lifted my head, groggy and unfocused. My eyes were blurry and my brain felt like it had been blown up in a nuclear war zone (multiple times). Eventually, my vision cleared and I saw two pairs of eyes; the first two were such a pale shade of blue they were almost white, the second were an orange and amber tinted hazel.

The hazel-eyed one spoke first. "Hey, kid," she said in the same gruff voice I had heard before. "Name's Amber, immortal Hunter of Artemis at your service. You okay?" Even in my current state, I was even more confused. "Who's Artemis?" I said weakly, my voice raspy.

"Pfft, you newbies know nothing of the Greek gods these days," the girl said. "Weren't you taught about Greek mythology?" I shook my head, confused. "I told you, Dove!" Amber exclaimed, turning her head to the blue-eyed girl. "None of them know anything!"

"Oh, shut up, Amber," Dove replied, her eyes snapping. "Come on," she added more gently to me. "I'll help you up and explain everything." I thought that was going to take hours to explain how a lion crashed through the window of a New Jersey school bus and how a chariot crashed through the roof, but for some reason, I trusted her.

Apparently, helping me up was dragging me by my arms into the chariot and draping me over the seat, my eyes facing the open back. "So, I'm Dove Renee and this is Amber Troung, who's been a Hunter of Artemis for over a hundred years now," Dove said. I nearly fainted again. _These people must be crazy, _I thought. _Then again, I must be crazy for seeing these things._

"The only reason you've really boarded this chariot is because you're a demigod," Amber explained. "Half god, half mortal, if you're wondering what that means. Of course, I'm immortal." She brushed back her hair glamorously. "But you're also a demigod," Dove remarked, making Amber all of a sudden lose her glamor. "Well, yeah, I was a demigod," Amber pouted. "But that doesn't mean I'm one now."

"Amber-"I could tell Dove was struggling not to snap in frustration at the obviously simple-minded girl, but she managed to keep her cool. "Anyways, being a demigod has its perks and its downs," Dove began to explain again to me. "The perks are that you get to fight monsters and go on epic quests to save the world and stuff." She looked a bit deflated about that and I wondered why. "But the downs are that most demigods don't live as long as normal people. Some people have died at fifteen or sixteen. I'm fifteen, so I'm lucky especially being the daughter of Ares, the god of war."

"Yeah, Dove gets a little embarrassed about that since everyone thought her godly parent was going to be Aphrodite, but apparently her momma forced Ares to let her name their daughter a peaceful name," Amber interrupted, chortling at the thought. "Imagine a god of war agreeing to a pathetic mortal who just gave birth to a baby."

Dove looked up, her cheeks beginning to grow red and her eyes beginning to blaze until her pupils looked somewhat like flames. "Shut up, Amber," she grumbled at the other girl. Amber laughed and elbowed my shoulder, making me grunt in discomfort. "I told you she got embarrassed," she whispered loudly.

Dove gave a sigh and put her face in her hands, not speaking for the rest of the ride. Now, as an expert on sea storms and stuff like that, I don't know too much about flying or the sky, but I'm pretty sure the landscape below you doesn't just randomly change when you're in midflight. Because that's literally what happened. One minute, we were over the ocean and I was greeting dolphins with high-pitched whistles when boom! We were over the entire ocean and nearing an island. Poor dolphins. I bet we would've had a pleasant conversation.

Then, I suddenly noticed that the chariot started to tip over. And I was in the back of the chariot, just waiting to intercept whatever we landed into. Fortunately, the chariot righted itself and began tipping the other way. Not that that's any better. Dove and Amber were headed vertically straight toward a rocky shore which I'm pretty sure wasn't friendly to passing tourists in chariots or people who even knew this place.

We were rocketing straight down, the head of the chariot being very friendly and heading right for a rock. Oh, my luck is good….Then again, that's what happens to most demigods nowadays or any days. But I had other problems to think about other than what problems demigods had to face.

My only problem was hurtling toward the earth. Simple problem, right? Only if you had an anti-gravity suit, it would be simple. Man, I wished I had an anti-gravity suit. Then again, Zeus wouldn't particularly like me vandalizing his clouds and using his lightning all the time. Did I mention I really, really, _really _hate Zeus? Oh, and I hate Zeus.

Luckily or unluckily (whichever works), the chariot tipped completely over and we were sent flying into the ocean. I thrashed around underwater for a minute trying to hold my breath when I realized that I wasn't wet. I could breathe fine. The ocean didn't work too well for Dove and Amber, however. I saw them floating down through the murky depths, unconscious. I propelled myself forward and grabbed the two girls.

I burst out of the ocean and began to run toward shore. As I looked at my slick arms, wet from holding up Dove and Amber, I noticed how the scratches on my arm from the Nemean Lion were gone. They had just disappeared. I stood still, baffled for a moment when I suddenly began to realize my arms and legs felt like jelly from being hung over the back of a chariot seat.

I began to sweat and I staggered forward. Then the sight of civilization caught my attention; a group of flickering cabins stood in the night. I hauled Dove and Amber to the nearest cabin and leaned my back against it in relief. As soon as I closed my eyes, the darkness was like a pit I couldn't escape as I drifted into one of the most terrifying dreams yet.

As I sunk away into sleep, the ghastly memories came back, ones that seemed to come back every night except for that weird leopard dream I had had. My father was pinned to a tree, the flames inching forward on every side, his friends lying dead from the heat around them. He was the only one left, surrounded by smoke as it swirled and began to envelop him in a cloud.

My eyes squinted from the heat and stinging ashy smoke. I struggled to see my father but he was gone, destroyed in the rage of fire and its creations. Then the dream scene of flames disappeared, replaced by a certain leopard calmly sitting on a hill, its ruby eyes shining.

It was the same leopard. It slowly turned its head towards me and smiled creepily. "Hello, River Jordan Bernair," it spoke, using my full name. I blushed as I thought about how my middle name was conceived from my father's trip to Israel years before and seeing the River Jordan, he was convinced he would name one of his daughters that one day. And indeed, he did name me that.

"I see you are distracted about your father's death," the leopard said almost as if it was reading my thoughts. "And yes, I am reading your thoughts," it added. The leopard stepped forward suddenly and I thought he was about to attack when he turned into a big, pot-bellied man with a greying beard and hair. He chuckled and held his stomach as I turned pale with fright. "Hah, gets those demigods every time," he wheezed. "Anyways, I've come to tell you that your time really has run out and one of my children will definitely defeat you. Thanks for your appreciation! If you would like this message on that stupid godly voicemail that always puts things on repeat, press nothing. Bye!"

The man then disappeared and I could vaguely feel someone's hand gripping my arm and shaking it. "River," a distant voice came into my dream as I stood at the crest of the hill, feeling the wind blow refreshingly on my face. "River Bernair!" a voice screamed at the top of their lungs.

I opened my eyes to see Amber in my face, her long brown hair waving in the breeze. "River, wake up!" I blinked; there were a whole lot of people around Amber; I didn't recognize any of them. "Hi," I said slowly, trying to wake up. "You've been sleeping for days. We were really worried about you." Dove must've been in the crowd somewhere because I heard her voice muffled by someone else's clothes. Finally, she pushed her way out of the mass and came forward, her too-big orange shirt flowing in the breeze.

"Are you okay?" she gasped, obviously out of breath from being suffocated by all those shirts. "Uh, yeah," I said, blinking. "I think so. Amber here just woke me up from this weird dream and…."I suddenly began to feel faint and light-headed, collapsing back onto the bed. My eyes fixed on the blank ceiling and I summoned up the strength to move my mouth again, asking, "What is this place?"

A buff man pushed through the crowd of kids, answering my question, "Camp Half-Blood, a place where demigods thrive in peace." I looked up through blurry eyes. Was that guy wearing an inflatable horse suit? But I soon realized that that couldn't be something inflatable. I saw muscles and veins coursing through velvety white fur.

"What are you?" I seemed to be asking a lot of questions, too many judging by how this man reacted. He wrinkled his nose. "Well, I'm a centaur, of course," he said grandly, drawing himself up. "You mean, half man, half horse?"

The supposed centaur rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm Chiron, Kronos' son," he replied. "I am also a trainer of demigods here at Camp Half-Blood. You know, half god, half mortal. Might be major, might be minor." I was still confused. I knew what a demigod was, but why would I be trained? Suddenly, it struck me: Aunt Selena had been talking to Chiron the other day. Was this the same Chiron? Before I could wonder any longer, Dove butted in for some unexplained reason.

"Although now, no god is minor and major," she explained hurriedly. "Jason the priest built temples for every minor god or goddess since they do…did not receive as much attention as the twelve original Olympians." I frowned. Something was off about this Chiron. His brown eyes were flecked with…pure gold, an odd color for his plain eyes to be dotted with. I shrugged mentally. Since he was the trainer and protector of demigods, he couldn't be dangerous.

Chiron folded his hands together, staring at me. "So, now we wait for you to be claimed by your godly parent," he said, drawing his chin up then walking away. "Chiron," Dove called. The centaur turned around, his eyes flashing a much lighter color. "What?" he snapped. Dove took a step back. "Nothing," she mumbled in a somewhat depressed way.

As I watched Chiron pad away, his hooves clopping loudly against the hard floor and then watching him yank open the door, I noticed something was odd with the "campers" of Camp Half-Blood. They seemed withdrawn to themselves. Dove was the only one that seemed the slightest bit happy. "Hey guys, let's give a great big greeting to this new camper," Dove exclaimed, her eyes managing to look raggedly enthusiastic. "Why should we?"

I winced at the sound of the snake-like hissing of the male voice. The campers parted to reveal a muscular man that looked to be in his early twenties. I was surprised he was at a camp at this age. Well, I guess this camp was for protecting demigods so he just stayed here.

The man's appearance was grotesque; his throat seemed to be clawed-up, deep pinkish scars crossing his throat. Several faded scratches surrounded his mouth and reddish, welt-like triangular scars went diagonally through both of his eyes. He should've been blind, but he moved with undisguised confidence as he walked toward Dove.

The blonde-haired teen didn't seem scared; she only seemed firm. "Scott, what business do you have here?" she asked, staring right at the man who towered several feet taller than her. He looked down, a smirk playing on his dark-crossed lips. "Oh, Dove Renee," he said, his deep voice making me shudder. He cupped the teen's face in his rough, stained hand streaked with what must have been blood. "Why are you being so rude to your older brother?" he asked slyly, smiling.

"You know I'm not your blood sister," Dove retorted, her pale blue eyes defiant. "Oh, but you are," Scott replied. "Remember, children of Ares have to stick together….."His blue eyes clouded over and he went rigid as he whispered, "_To fight through the war…._" He shook his head and stalked forward to the bed I was lying on.

I gulped and forced myself to stare at Scott like Dove had done. I began to tremble and sweat. "Don't pressure yourself, kid," the man rumbled then turned away. "I've come here to warn you. Gaea might've been blasted to bits so many years ago, but her followers are still alive and they're willing to accept a new master. I would give you a prophecy if I had one, but I don't. You'll have to live without your prophecy for now, but I would stay on the lookout if I were you." Dove stepped forward.

"That's enough, Scott," Dove cautioned him. "If Chiron sees you here, he won't ever forgive you and let you back into camp." Scott sighed, his shoulders sagging. He turned to face Dove, his eyes giving off a defeated aura. "I know," he whispered. He lifted his head and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Good luck, my sister," he said. "I was banished when you were just a little tyke. I know what I'm doing." His eyes hardened. "And I know to stay away from the Olympians." He walked off, facing the crowd and waved.

I peered after Scott and saw a dark blood red chariot waiting for him. He climbed into the chariot and it flew off into the sky. I sat in shock, looking at the other campers who seemed coolly relieved that the intimidating demigod was gone.

Dove looked at me. "Come along now, River," she said. "I'll help walk you to the Hermes cabin." As I slowly began my way across the room and out the door with Dove at my side, I couldn't help but wonder about Scott and his words of warning. We were almost at the cabin when I suddenly heard myself blurting out the question, "Why was Scott banished?"

My blonde-haired companion sighed. "For reasons you wouldn't understand, River Bernair," she vaguely replied, rolling out a sleeping bag for me in the corner of the Hermes cabin. "Now, go to sleep, River," she said. "You've had a long day."

I didn't want to sleep. I really didn't. But as soon as Dove flicked off the lights, I was out like a lightbulb. But not before wondering, _Why was Scott exiled? And why is Dove so vague about him?_


End file.
